The invention relates to an improvement for use in baling a crop, such as hay or straw, which permits consolidation of separate harvesting steps.
In conventional production of a crop to be baled, e.g., hay, and grass and/or legume is cut and is left on the field to cure. Once this has occurred, a side delivery rake is drawn through the field to form the lying hay into windows, and the windrows are subsequently engaged by a baler. The separate steps of raking and baling require repetitive passes over the field.
A considerable saving in time and operational expense is possible by combining the raking and baling steps. Accordingly, the present invention provides an arrangement whereby a side delivery rake and a baler are operatively interconnected so that while one windrow is being baled, another windrow is being formed in preparation for baling.